Rostec replied with a Stalin image to @m_tsvetkova story on a defence factory boss who self-immolated over defmin pressure, calling it “propaganda clichés." "Scaring people with Soviet times is no longer fashionable in Russia. You’re 40 years too late.” t.me/rostecru/10994

With Volna, a Moscow maker of tank radio set parts, nearing bankruptcy after the Ukraine war, its director set himself alight on Red Square @mashatsvetkova.bsky.social spoke exclusively to him and others about the Russian defmin pressure that drove him to it www.reuters.com/world/europe...

A year ago we reported on a RU propaganda network in Germany handled by the GRU. During that work, Anna Novikova, a RU living in France, also drew our attention. She has now been detained on suspicion of espionage. Read about her ties to Kremlin proxies👇 www.reuters.com/world/europe...

that is in English too carnegieendowment.org/russia-euras...

A timely piece by Alexandra Prokopenko (Carnegie) on how Russia uses Western legal systems to press exiled influencers: once labelled “extremists” or “terrorists” at home, they face banking and employment issues in Europe, the US, etc. In RU but easy to machine-translate meduza.io/feature/2025...

Pokrovsk, Ukraine. Portrait of a city in war by Tyler Hicks. View for free: www.nytimes.com/2025/11/13/w...

Highly recommend the book "With Good Intentions” (Благими намерениями) by Ksenia Luchenko to anyone who wants to understand how modern Russian nationalist rhetoric was formed and evolved. Ksenia showed it through the Russian Orthodox Church. Only in Russian now, I hope for an Eng edition one day

please check out these dishes from a Georgian restaurant in Chisinau: Ceasaridze salad, khinkaluli (wtf?), and the real monster - khachapuri stuffed with khinkali

good data analysis from colleagues: How Ukraine's European allies fuel Russia's war economy www.reuters.com/business/ene...

I think this year we can really see the consequences of sanctions in Russia: www.reuters.com/world/europe...

Despite Moscow recruiting and paying dozens of priests in the deeply religious country to urge congregations to vote against the pro-European PAS party, Moldovans flipped the bird at Russian fascism in yesterday's elections, voting for democracy over Russian terror. www.reuters.com/investigatio...

To get a sense of Moldova, look at this: a woman riding her bike along the highway, leading her cow on a rope. Watermelons in Moldova are truly beyond all expectations 🍉🍉🍉

Russia paid for Orthodox priests from #Moldova to make pilgrimages to Moscow. In exchange, they had to set up social media accounts warning about the dangers of closer European integration. @reuters.com investigation about how Kremlin is trying to influence Sunday’s key #election in Moldova 🇲🇩

I also encourage you to watch the short film about Russia's influence on the upcoming elections in Moldova through the Church, featuring some amazing shots by Janis Laizans for our story youtu.be/83kfW9yZZ8Q?...

I’ve just launched a new Instagram account dedicated to journalism, where I share photos from my trips, behind-the-scenes moments, and everyday life as a reporter. Feel free to subscribe! I’ve already posted some background content from my recent trip to Moldova instagram.com/polina_reports

My team and I spent 2 weeks in Moldova reporting ahead of Sunday’s parliamentary elections. We found how Russia has persistently tried to influence voters through the Orthodox Church 1/8 w/@christianlowe.bsky.social @zverevlive.bsky.social Janis Laizans Marton Monus www.reuters.com/investigatio...

Russian authorities are now trying to negotiate relief from sanctions, particularly on spare parts, which they say are critical for flight safety, a source in Russia's aviation sector told Reuters. www.reuters.com/business/aer...

our investigation into occupied Enerhodar was cited in @thestudyofwar.bsky.social note on Russian control of Ukrainian territories: how the Russian occupation of the town and the ZNPP has turned the area into a “Russified ghost town.” understandingwar.org/research/rus...

RUSI has quoted our investigation into Russia’s efforts to control Enerhodar. Below, @ddolzikova.bsky.social shares her thoughts on how to handle the difficult situation at the nuclear power plant 👇 www.rusi.org/explore-our-...

Sverdlin founded Get Lost soon after the start of Russia's full-scale invasion in Ukraine, the project helped hundreds and hundreds of people escape the army since. They also declared February 29 Desertion Day. More here: en.zona.media/article/2024...

Grigory Sverdlin, anti-war activist, former director of homeless charity Nochlezhka and founder of the Get Lost project, which helps Russians desert from the army, was sentenced to 6 years in absentia by a Moscow court today—for a post from April 2022 about the Bucha massacre

Reuters investigation exposes how Russia turned Europe’s largest nuclear city into a fortress of terror—families vanish, kids erased, workers coerced at gunpoint. www.reuters.com/investigatio...

🟠 "They force people to love them." https://www.reuters.com/investigations/russia-turns-ukrainian-nuclear-city-into-stronghold-fear-2025-08-29/

Here is our new investigation into Enerhodar, an occupied Ukrainian city that hosts Europe's largest nuclear plant. Based on interviews with over 50 people, we detail how Moscow's security apparatus and Rosatom are ruling over the city with violence and fear. www.reuters.com/investigatio...

🇷🇺 🇺🇦 Once a thriving city of 50,000, Enerhodar, home of the Zaporizhzhia nuclear plant, is a ghost town. The Russian occupation is using intimidation and seemingly arbitrary detentions to scrub the region of its Ukrainian identity. www.reuters.com/investigatio... #Russia #Ukraine

while the world debates a territorial deal between RU and UA, we found that RU is reshaping Enerhodar -the site of Europe’s largest nuclear plant - through fear, propaganda, and newcomers w/ @saitomri.bsky.social @zverevlive.bsky.social M. Prysiazhniuk L. Hinnant www.reuters.com/investigatio...

anyone who claims that nothing has changed in Russia is simply choosing not to notice www.reuters.com/world/we-thr...

I believe there wasn't a single Russian journalist in the 2000s-2010s who didn’t have some connection with Derk. He helped shape the Russian independent press. I’m deeply grateful to him for my happy professional year at RBC. My deepest condolences to his family.

finally read a good story about London’s parakeets, seeing them here is more than surprising for immigrants like me www.thetimes.com/article/b8d4...

He sought asylum in the U.S. after hanging an anti-Putin poster from a bridge in Russia. After 10 months in detention and a failed asylum claim, Leonid Melekhin returned to his hometown and was immediately arrested on “terrorism” charges. His story: en.zona.media/article/2025...

I'm currently reading @shaunwalker7.bsky.social's account of the scrupulous recruitment, years of training and diligent handling of the USSR's 'illegals'. The contrast with the crude FSB op detailed here couldn't be more striking. www.reuters.com/investigates...

Russia has resorted to using untrained spies after its diplomats and operatives were expelled from Europe in response to the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in 2022. This case against a teenager now jailed in Poland reveals how Moscow conducts and funds such operations www.reuters.com/investigates...

This is wild. Russia recruited and paid a young Canadian as spy. Excellent deep reporting. www.reuters.com/investigates...

Great story into how the FSB recruits teenagers in the West for spying and sabotage and how these operations are funded www.reuters.com/investigates...

A lost Canadian teen traveled to Donetsk last year. There, he was detained by Russia's FSB. He eventually agreed to spy for Russia. We went through a thousand pages of Polish court documents, including the full chat between the teen and his handler. New story: www.reuters.com/investigates...

we traced the journey of a Canadian teen recruited by RU for sabotage in Europe - from his escape to Donbas, detention by the FSB, to landing in a Polish prison. we also read all his messages with his FSB handler (see photo in a thread). read the story: www.reuters.com/investigates...

a RU actor said in an interview that women should hide their menstruation and even isolate themselves so as not to poison the mood of others. women are now flooding his IG post, sharing when they expect their periods and asking where the special room is www.instagram.com/reel/DKsNwE_...

our past investigation takes a new turn

Russia is expanding its military-industrial complex and building new facilities. An important investigation by @reuters.com with @mashatsvetkova.bsky.social, @reporter-polina.bsky.social, @mcneill.bsky.social, @christianlowe.bsky.social, @zverevlive.bsky.social. www.reuters.com/investigatio...

By reviewing state documents and satellite imagery, my colleagues found that Russia is undertaking a major factory expansion in remote Siberia to ramp up production of a powerful explosive Moscow needs to wage war in Ukraine www.reuters.com/investigatio... @reporter-polina.bsky.social

In the remote RU town of Biysk, beyond drone attacks, major construction is underway at an explosives factory. Evidence suggests plans to produce RDX or HMX, both powerful military explosives. The new facility could significantly boost Moscow’s firepower 1/5 www.reuters.com/investigatio...